With the ancient epic Mahabharat as her source, and the battle of Kurukshetra as a central motif, Mahasweta Devi weaves three stories in which we visit unexpected alleys and by-lanes of the traditional epic saga, and look at events from the eyes of women marginalized, dispossessed, dalit. Their eyes condemn the wanton waste and inhumanity of war. This Kurukshetra is not the legendary Dharmayuddha of the popular imagination but rather a cold-blooded power game sacrificing countless human lives. How do the women s quarters of the palace, a colourless place of shadowy widowhood, appear to five peasant women whose lives are no less shattered by the Kurukshetra massacre, but who are used to dealing with trauma in a more robust manner? How does their outlook on life and survival influence the young pregnant princess who is abruptly plunged into the half-life of uppercaste widowhood? How does a lower caste serving woman, who was brought in to service king Dhritarashtra when his queen was with child, view her half-royal offspring and his decision to perform the last rites for a father who never acknowledged him as a son? How does an ageing Kunti, living out her last years in the forest, come to terms with her guilt over her unacknowledged son, Karna? And, having finally voiced her shame aloud, how then does she face up to a crime she has not even remembered: the murder of a family of nishad forest dwellers? These tales, brewed in the imagination of a master story-teller, make us look at the Mahabharata with new eyes, insisting as they do on the inclusion, within the master narrative, of the fates and viewpoints of those previously unrepresented therein: women and the underclass. MAHASWETA DEVI is one of India s foremost writers. Her powerful, satiric fiction has won her recognition in the form of the Sahitya Akademi (1979), Jnanpith (1996) and Ramon Magsaysay (1996) awards, the title of Officier del Ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres (2003) and the Nonino Prize (2005), amongst several other literary honours. She was also awarded the Padmasree in 1986, for her activist work amongst dispossessed tribal communities. ANJUM KATYAL is as an editor who has also translated several plays and short stories.

Spoken In The First Person, These Reminiscences Of A Woman Whose Mother Was Rescued From A House Of Ill-Repute Construct A History Not Often Documented. A History That Runs Parallel To The Official Narrative Of India`S Modernism And Nationalism: That Of Women Outcast Because They Are `Fallen`. Starting From The Late Nineteenth Century, The Voice Of Bedanabala Bears Witness To The Experiences Of Many Women Who Find Themselves Outside The Safety Of Domestic Walls And Thereafter Make Their Lives In The Only Ways Open To Them In A Society Where Women Did Not Work Except As Domestic Servants-Entertaining Men, Developing Liaisons, Interwining Their Dreams And Passions With The Destiny Of A Country Struggling For Independence And Questioning Oppressive Time-Worn Social Custom. Bedanabala, Written In 1996, Seeks To Empathize With A Segment Of Society Condemned Even By Other Women As Beyond The Bounds Of Decency And Social Acceptance.

It is the tenth night of the great war between the Pandavas and Kauravas. Bhishma, the venerable patriarch of the families, lies fatally wounded on the plains of Kurukshetra. On his deathbed he offers Radheya, his nemesis, a chance to rule the Kuru kingdom by capturing Yudhishthira. In the Pandava camp, Yudhishthira, a reluctant warrior, tries desperately to hold his allies together and escape capture without appearing to be a coward. Meanwhile, his young and impulsive nephew, Abhimanyu, a warrior prince, dreams of glory and yearns for a chance to save the Pandava cause. The lives of these three warriors, Yudhisthira, Radheya and Abhimanyu, collide brutally on the thirteenth day. A story of how stories are created, how fact becomes fiction, how history becomes mythology and how men become legends, The Thirteenth Day re-imagines India's greatest epic like never before.

Good and evil, loyalty and treachery, faith and doubt, honour and ignominy—the Mahabharata has served as a primer for codes of conduct to generations of Hindus. Over time, the epic has also fascinated those who love a tale well told. In its telling, however, the story has lost much of its richness and nuance, and the characters have become one-dimensional cut-outs—either starkly good or irredeemably evil. In this reinterpretation, Meena Arora Nayak analyses how the values espoused in the Mahabharata came to be distorted into meagre archetypes, creating customary laws that injure society even today.

Collection of scientific papers S.V. Zharnikova's "Meru Mountains" (Hyperborea and Aryan ancestral homeland) is devoted to the problem of identifying the main centers of the Aryan ancestral homeland - the Meru Mountains (Hara and Kukarya mountains, Riphean and Hyperborean mountains). The works presented in it give an answer to the question of their location. These articles outline the circle of lands of the ancestral home of the Indo-Europeans - Hyperboreans; find ancient Aryan cities, rivers, sacred reservoirs.

Abdullah Ocalan and Kurd The Word Abdullah Ocalan and Kurd have one thing in common; both are the name come into existence because of the resistance against the occupiers of the Kurdistan. The struggle by the Kurdish people to be free from occupiers and live in the land belongs to their forefather peacefully made histories. The famous Jewish historian Josephus’ stated in the Antiquities of the Jews history – Preface ‘There are those who write histories in order to gratify those that happen to be concerned in them, and on that account have spared no pains, but rather gone beyond their own abilities in the performance: but others there are, who, of necessity and by force, are driven to write history, because they are concerned in the facts, and so cannot excuse themselves from committing them to writing, for the advantage of posterity’. Author note: Indeed the fact-finding about Kurd and Kurdistan where I belong derived me to write this book for my people, who have been used and abused by so many other people. The hatred and need for the land united followers of Deva (Dêw) and Asura religion to murder millions of people and enslave millions of women and children to be used as sex slaves, were Abdullah Ocalan and Kurd belongs too. Abdullah Ocalan led Kurds as the original members the Mithraism and Aryan religion, who established the ancient Caucasian civilized. Abdullah Ocalan and Kurd came to fight occupiers of their forefather land in different time. Kurd as the member of the Aryan religion fought Greek Empire as members of Deva religion, and Abdullah Ocalan is fighting Islamic Empires, led by Persian of Tamil (Tamil-India), Arabs of Africa and Turk of Mongolia simultaneously as the members of the Islamic religion which, is part of the Deva (Dêw) religion known as Abrahamic (Deva) religion too.

She chose the life of a warrior, leading from the front, protecting her ancestral kingdom. She waded through treacherous destiny. Her uncompromising love restored her husband back to glory. She lived in a hermitage, chose a king as husband, and challenged his dharma in open sabha- a mother who shaped an emperor who reshaped the civilization. She watched the play of beauty and destruction from afar. When she took centre stage, she nurtured the future to find its feet. She was regal and virtuous. She embarked on a divine mission, and chose an incredible destiny and groom for herself. She, a fisherwoman, rose to rule an empire, navigating challenges and making tough decisions with her steely resolve. She led her life on her own terms, choosing to stay on the sidelines but shaping life at the centre. She courageously pursued truth, unafraid to challenge the greatest scholars on metaphysics. An inspiration to seekers of all times. She was the wind beneath her husband’s wings. When he pursued the ultimate truth, she too walked the unyielding path. She sought an improbable marriage. Her penance and devotion won her heaven, and for her husband too. She has many faces, different roles in different times, embodying the essence of a great tradition. She carved a niche, charted her own path but upheld Dharma at all times. She is Aryaa - the glorious woman of Bharatavarsha - manifestation of the eternally present Shakti.

Describes the origins, principal teachings, scriptures, important figures, historical events, holidays, places of worship, and community life of Hinduism.